NCACH Data
NCACH Data
The North Central Accountable Community of Health uses data to inform our decisions and guide our direction as we plan, design, and implement health improvement projects in our region. Data analysis is a useful tool to:
- check our assumptions (is what we think is happening actually happening?)
- assess regional health needs and assets (where are our strengths and weaknesses?)
- highlight disparities (where do some groups experience better outcomes than others?)
- select projects and prioritize target populations (given limited resources, where should we focus?)
- identify key questions or gaps (what should we be thinking about as we plan and implement our projects?)
- monitor our progress and impact (are we on the right track? Are we having the intended impact? If not, how should we adjust?)
Data comes in many forms – it can be viewed via spreadsheets and maps, it can be heard via anecdotes, and it can be collected via surveys. It can be quantitative (something that can be counted and measured) or qualitative (opinions and views).
Both types of data are valuable and neither will give you a complete picture on its own. That is why we rely on community partners to help us interpret and understand data as we use it as one of many tools in our toolbox.
Data sources
One key data source for NCACH has been the 2016 Chelan-Douglas Health District Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), which was conducted for the entire NCACH region and completed in December 2016.
We drew on this assessment as well as many data sources provided by the Health Care Authority to summarize our project application’s Regional Health Needs Inventory (RHNI). Find both these documents to the right under “Resources.”
Much of the data that was provided to ACHs by the Health Care Authority cannot be shared publicly. Below, find some of our favorite public data resources for exploring health outcomes, needs, and disparities in our four county region.
Some of our favorite data resources
| Resource | Link/URL | How the Data informs our work |
|---|---|---|
| Healthier Washington Dashboard | Visit Site | The link to this interactive dashboard will allow you to explore the breakdown of our Medicaid population as well as healthcare measures and maps – across different geographies and demographics. This dashboard was specifically developed for Washington’s Medicaid Transformation. |
| Healthier WA AIM Data Dashboard Suite | Visit Site | This interactive dashboard, which complements the current Healthier Washington Measure Dashboard, allows you to explore data to answer the following questions: Which emergency department do Medicaid enrollees visit and for what conditions? Which inpatient facility do Medicaid enrollees get admitted to and for what primary conditions? Includes demographic breakouts (age, gender, race/ethnicity) |
| Highlight of Opioids in Washington State | Visit Site | This is the second time that the Washington Health Alliance has produced results looking at regional variation in opioid prescribing rates, specific to both the Medicaid and commercially insured populations. The interactive site uncovers potential hot spots of overuse and can help health care stakeholders identify and target areas in the state that may need improvement. Data can be sorted based on hospital referral area, age group, gender and/or insurance type. Note that the 2016 measurement year relies on claims data from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. |
| Washington Health Alliance Community Checkup | Visit Site | Compares clinics, medical groups, hospitals, counties and ACHs on common types of quality care. A great complement to the Healthier Washington Dashboard (though be careful with comparisons since measurement periods and metric specifications may be different) |
| Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) County Health Rankings | Visit Site | Recently revamped website! Great county-to-county comparison across a variety of health outcome measures, including the ability to download the data. |
| Washington Tracking Network (DOH) | Visit Site | This is a great resource because it's full of data visualization through maps. You can sort, export, chart, and map data across a variety of public health indicators, including opioid measures. You can explore maps that show community rankings that highlight health and social disparities. You also can explore dashboards specific to opioid prescriptions or related to social determinants of health (e.g. the percentage of the population in poverty, living with crowded housing, with limited English, unemployed and uninsured.) This data is broken out by age, gender, race and ethnicity. Note that some of these dashboards are slow to load! (lots of underlying data) |